Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due:

beanies

Pardon my wonky eyebrows, I woke up just a few minutes before I decided to take these pictures. 😛

I just want to start off by saying that I can’t take full credit for the creation of this beanie. I found a pattern on ravelry by Zabet Kempfert (http://www.ravelry.com/designers/zabet-kempfert) and loved it. I decided to make a pattern using a similar style; I really loved the texture that Zabet created but I wanted to change it up to make it my own. I used some styles and motifs from her pattern to develop my own creation. Here’s the pattern that I came up with:

Materials:

4 or 5 US 8 (5.0 mm) DPNs (I used 4, but I would suggest using 5; it makes the pattern a little easier to work with)

Caron Simply Soft heather yarn in Charcoal

Place marker (not necessary, but may be useful)

Tapestry needle

Abbreviations:

K2 – knit 2

P2 – pearl 2

K2Tog – knit 2 together

*Note* this pattern is made for a small to medium sized head (20-22 inches); for a larger head, refer to the numbers in parentheses when casting on.

Pattern:

Brim:

Cast on 72 (76) stitches using an alternate cable cast-on method in a P2 K2 pattern; your first cast on stitch will be a pearl stitch. Turn work and join in the round. Work in a K2 P2 pattern until the brim measures 3.5 inches.

Body:

Round 1: Knit all stitches for one round.

Round 2: *Move yarn to the front. Slip 2 stitches from left needle to right needle. Wrap yarn tail around slipped stitches so that it is now in the back again. Slip the 2 stitches back to the left needle; knit those 2 stitches as normal. Knit 4 stitches.* – repeat for whole row.

Cut yarn and use your tapestry needle to thread the yarn tail through the remaining stitches left on the needle. Knot the yarn, and weave in any loose ends.

My goal was to create an almost cable-knit pattern style, minus the actual cable knit (because there’s a lot of things about knitting that I still have to learn, and cable knit is one of them!); hopefully my mission was accomplished in this pattern.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc., please do not hesitate to ask! My comment box is wide open. 🙂

So I was doing some window shopping on the internet the other day and found this beanie on the Brandy Melville site (http://www.brandymelvilleusa.com/accessories/beanies/haylynn-knit-beanie-097.html) that I loved. But it was $20. “Seriously, $20? I could make something just like that!” – that was my thought process. So I gathered up some of my knitting supplies and made a similar beanie for less than a third of the cost.

*Note – this information may be useful for beginners; if you are a well-versed knitter or have knit a hat or two before, feel free to skip ahead

My head measures about 22 inches, so I did a gauge swatch (4in. X 4in square in garter stich) with the circular needles to determine how many stitches per inch I would normally knit. I measured 2 stitches per inch (the yarn is fairly bulky). Originally I had intended to only cast on 40 stitches, but I cast on 42 instead so that I could knit more comfortably in the round (40 was a little tight when I tried it first).

You could go off of the measurements that I used for myself, but I would highly suggest:

measuring your own head

making your own gauge swatch with the yarn and needles that you intend to use for this project

determining the number of stitches that you made per inch in your gauge swatch

Cast on 42 stitches (or number determined by gauge) in an alternating knit 1, pearl 1 pattern using the cable cast-on method. The first stitch will be your pearl stitch; the next stitch will be cast on knit-wise.

Continue in the P1 K1 cast-on pattern until you reach 42 stitches; place your place-marker, turn work and join in the round. Work in the K1 P1 rib pattern until the brim measures 1 1/2 inches. At the beginning of the next round, increase using the PFB method; pearl the rest of the stitches in this round.

Body:

Work in a K1 P1 pattern until the total work measures 7 inches (including the brim). So far, you should have a K1P1 ribbed brim and a seed stitch body.

Decrease:

Switch to DPNs. Spread all stitches across your DPNs (note to beginners: use all but one needle; that last DPN is what you will use to knit with).

row 1: *Knit 4, K2Tog* – repeat to the end of the round

row 2: Knit all stitches to the end of the round

row 3: *Knit 3, K2Tog* – repeat to the end of the round

row 4: Knit all stitches

row 5: *Knit 2, K2Tog* – repeat to the end of the round

row 6: Knit all stitches

row 7: *Knit 1, K2Tog* – repeat to the end of the round

row 8: Knit all stitches

row 9: K2Tog all stitches until the end of the round

row 10: Knit all stitches

Use your tapestry needle to thread the yarn through the remaining stitches; weave in any yarn tails.

Please, if you have any questions, comments, concerns, etc., leave a message in the comments below.

If you want me to make any tutorial blogs or videos for any of the methods mentioned in this blog post (e.g. cable cast-on method, PFB, making a gauge swatch, determining amount of cast-on stitches, etc.), I’d be more than happy to. Just let me know in the comments. 🙂